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Table of contents

1. Welcome to Procreate 3
1.1 What is Procreate? 4

2. Gallery 10
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4

Create a new canvas 11


Organising artwork 16
Sharing artwork 23
Gallery groups 34

3. Gestures 38
3.1 General use 39
3.2 Advanced use 49

4. Brushes 57
4.1 The Procreate brush system 58
4.2 Tweaking your brush settings 69
4.3 Making custom brushes 76

5. Smudge 84
5.1 Smudging colours 85

6. Erase 88

6.1 The Eraser tool 89


6.2 Other ways to correct artwork 92

7. Colours 95
7.1
7.2
7.3
7.4

Selecting colours 96
Saving colours 101
Loading more colours 105
Fill with colour 112

8. Layers 116

8.1 Building up layered artwork 117 8.2 Extra layer options 124 8.3
Blending modes 128 8.4 Quick layer actions 134 8.5 Advanced layer

features 138

9. Adjustments 141
9.1 Applying an effect 142 9.2 Image adjustments 147

10. Transform 156

10.1 Basic manipulation 157 10.2 Advanced manipulation 165

11. Selections 171

11.1 Making a basic selection 172 11.2 Modifying a selection 178

12. Actions 187

12.1 Importing images 188 12.2 Canvas actions 191 12.3 Sharing
artwork 195 12.4 Connecting devices 206 12.5 Preferences 210 12.6
Finding help 212

13. Reference 218


13.1 Artwork credits 219 13.2 Light reading 224

!
!

Welcome to
Procreate

What is Procreate?
Procreate is the most powerful and intuitive digital
illustration App available for iPad. Its packed with
features artists love, including advanced layer blending,
64-bit performance and a uniquely powerful brush engine.
Because Procreate is iPad exclusive, its been designed to
take advantage of every ounce of power the iPad can
offer.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Welcome to Procreate: What is Procreate? 2

Apple Design Award


We were honoured to win an Apple Design Award for
Procreate, recognising the technical, aesthetic, and
creative excellence of the product. Were pretty proud of
this award. It's a reflection of the heart and brain that's
gone - and continues to go - into every aspect of
Procreate.
Procreate Artists' Handbook Welcome to Procreate: What is Procreate? 3

Exceptional performance
The first thing youll notice is Procreate paints fast.
Really fast.
Procreate is one of the fastest and most precise creative software
packages available today. This speed and accuracy comes from
Procreates painting engine - Silica - and when combined with the
iPad's impressive graphics processing unit, creates an App that is
so powerful, it makes most desktop software blush.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Welcome to Procreate: What is Procreate? 4
Live brush preview
Size

A giant step forward

Procreate is different to other digital painting apps: it


puts the most-used tools right up front. Youll always
find your brush size and opacity handy, in the form of
2 precision sliders.
Precision is key
When you hold down a precision slider, a real-time preview will
appear. Letting go will select the value and hide the preview.
No matter what zoom level you work at, the preview will be relative
to your canvas.
Unlike normal sliders, these have been engineered to give you
more control towards low values when extreme precision is
required.

Pull-away feature

Try holding the slider and pulling away horizontally. The further you
are away from the graphic of the slider, the smaller the increments
will change, allowing miniscule changes to brush attributes. This
pull-away feature works with all sliders in Procreate.
Pro tip
In Preferences (via the Actions menu) you can swap which side the precision
sliders and undo/redo appear on.
Opacity

Procreate Artists' Handbook


Welcome to Procreate: What is Procreate? 5
Fullscreen indicator

Fullscreen mode
To cater for those moments when you only need one
brush and zero distractions, enter fullscreen mode.
To initiate Fullscreen Mode, tap 3 fingers on the screen. Youll
notice the UI slide away to give a completely clean view of your
canvas.
To bring the UI back, tap 3 fingers again or tap the Toolbars icon in
the top corner.
To use the undo/redo and clear layer functions while in fullscreen
mode, use the multitouch gestures. (page 36)
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Welcome to Procreate: What is Procreate? 6

What youll learn


In this guide you will find a basic walkthrough of the Procreate

application for iPad. Youll quickly pick up how to:


Create a new canvas and organise your Gallery with Groups.
Tweak the brushes to your liking.
Control brush results with the precision sliders.
Create your own brush from your own textures.
Use the smudge tool to blend colours effortlessly. Erase
mistakes and use the undo/redo system.
Layer artwork, isolate and merge elements.
Manipulate colours via layer blend modes.
Use Transform to easily create accurate 3D environments and
move, scale and rotate layers. Export JPEG, PNG & PSD files to
your camera roll, iTunes, Twitter and Dropbox.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Welcome to Procreate: What is Procreate? 7

Gallery
Section 1

Create a new canvas

Learn how Procreate stores your artwork, how to


import existing artwork, and how to create your very
own custom canvas.
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Gallery: Create a new canvas 9
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Gallery: Create a new canvas 10

Introducing the .procreate artwork format


Every artwork you make in Procreate is stored as a
unique .procreate file format on your iPad.
Having a native file format brings many benefits to you, the artist:
Your UHD artwork takes up less space on your iPad Loading
times significantly reduced
Layered artwork files

Super-easy to share
Painless backing up and restoring
Create new canvas

Preset canvas sizes


Procreate has a few standard sized canvases to make
creating a new artwork quick and easy.
Retina
This size canvas is the same proportion as your iPad to exactly fit
the screen.

Square

The square canvas is perfect for creating your own custom


brushes.

4K

This ratiofamiliar to storyboard artistsis capable of capturing


incredible detail due to the generous size.

1080p

The standard 16:9 ratio seen in modern day movies.

A4

The ISO standard size of 297mm by 210mm at 300dpi, which is


perfect for printing.
Layers scale with the size of the canvas. The smaller the canvas the
more layers you will be offered.
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Gallery: Create a new canvas 11
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Gallery: Create a new canvas 12

Custom size
When preset sizes dont suit the job, create your own!
To edit the canvas size tap either canvas width or height readouts.
Enter your size and tap Create.
Custom canvas sizes can be anywhere between 1 x 1px and
whopping 4096 x 4096px. Keep in mind that the larger the canvas
size, the fewer layers you will have to play with.
Pro tip
Experiment with different shapes to create dramatic effects such as an
extreme panorama, tall-skinny, or square.
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Gallery: Create a new canvas 13

Import
Create a new canvas by importing an existing artwork
or image straight to your Procreate Gallery.
Image
iTunes
Use an artwork from the Procreate folder in your iPads iTunes
directory.
Dropbox
Access artwork and images from your personal Dropbox account.
Photos
Use any existing image from your Photos app as a base for your
new artwork.

Clipboard

Create a new canvas based on an image from your iPads


clipboard. Procreate supports TIFF, JPEG, GIF and PNG file formats
for importing. This option will be greyed out if there is no
compatible data.
Note: Images larger than 4096 x 4096 pixels will be scaled, to stay
within the iPads capabilities.

Section 2

Organising artwork

Create order from the chaos with Procreates simple


yet powerful artwork gallery. Use the Gallery Groups to
keep your artwork tidy and improve your workflow.
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Gallery: Organising artwork 14

Single action
Swipe a thumbnail to the left to reveal actions.
The single action gesture allows you to rapidly share, duplicate or
delete an artwork.
See page 21 to learn more about artwork sharing.
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Gallery: Organising artwork 15

Multiple actions

Swipe thumbnails to the right to select multiple


artworks.
Bulk actions save you time when you need to edit more than one
canvas simultaneously.
To carry out bulk actions, simply swipe a thumbnail to the right.
Successfully selected thumbnails will appear blue. Once multiple
items have been selected, the bulk action icons will automatically
appear in the navigation bar. These actions allow you to delete or
share multiple artworks at once.
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Gallery: Organising artwork 16
Bulk actions

Rearranging artwork
Keep your Gallery layout exactly how you like it.
Moving artwork around is a snap. Just tap and hold on a thumbnail
to lift it out of the grid, then simply move the thumbnail to your
desired location and drop it.
Pro tip
You can also move multiple selected items into a group or change the order
of the gallery by holding down on one of the selected thumbnails.
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Gallery: Organising artwork 17
Gallery Group

Gallery Groups
Keeping artwork arranged in groups can be very
handy for creatives on the move.
Groups can be easily identified by a set of small thumbnails, similar
to groups in the iOS springboard. See Section 4 of this chapter for a
detailed description on creating and arranging groups.
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Gallery: Organising artwork 18
Tap title to edit

Renaming artwork
Capture the subject of your artwork with the perfect
name.
Tap the title in the artworks thumbnail to bring up the keyboard.
Hit Done or dismiss the keyboard to save the title. Until you edit an

artworks title it will be called Untitled Artwork.


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Gallery: Organising artwork 20

Orientation
Its easy to change a canvas orientation after youve
created it.
If your artwork is sitting on its side or upside down, simply hold two
fingers on the thumbnail and rotate until your artwork is the right
way up.

Section 3

Sharing artwork

Procreate provides several ways to share your


masterpieces with clients and colleagues.
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Gallery: Sharing artwork 21

Choose your format


Sharing from Procreate offers you 4 different
filetypes.
There are two ways to share artwork.
For a single item
Swipe the artwork thumbnail from right to left and tap Share.
For multiple items
Swipe the desired artwork thumbnails left to right and tap the
Share icon in the top left corner. This icon will only appear when
multiple items are selected.
Once you have selected the filetype you can choose how you
would like to export it.
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Gallery: Sharing artwork 22

File formats
Procreate features several file formats with varying
features suiting different purposes.

PNG
PNG will flatten your artwork and retain full quality (we call this
lossless). While slightly larger in file size, PNG will also save any
transparency you have in your artwork.

JPEG

A lossy format that will flatten your artwork into a single layer.
JPEG format is great for quickly sharing an image as the file size is
low.

Procreate

The native format used for storing all artwork data inside the app.
If using the .procreate format, all layer information will be kept
intact.

Photoshop

A standard PSD that will export layers, layer names, opacity,


visibility and blend modes exactly as per your Procreate doc.
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Gallery: Sharing artwork 23

Share Destinations
Depending on which filetype youve chosen, you will
see a combination of the following:
iTunes Dropbox
Photos
Email
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Gallery: Sharing artwork 24

Facebook Twitter
Weibo

Email

Easily share your artwork using your iPads Mail app.


Supported filetypes
PNG, JPG, Procreate and PSD.
Select the desired format and Procreate will load your artwork into
an email, ready to send. If you select a PNG or JPG your image will
be displayed inline. A Procreate file will show an icon.
Pro tip
Why not collaborate with friends by sending
a .procreate file around to see what comes of it?
Sharing by email requires an active account on your iPads Mail app. For

maximum compatibility, Procreate will not limit your attachment size. If


your emails don't send, ask your IT consultant about your email size
limit.
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Gallery: Sharing artwork 25

Twitter
Tweet your latest artwork to your Twitter followers.
Supported filetype
JPG
Sharing to Twitter will set up a tweet, ready to go to all of your
followers on Twitter. Once the image has been prepared you can
type your tweet, add your location and choose which account to
send it from if you have multiple accounts set up.
Twitter will be disabled if you have not set up an account on your
device. Go to your Settings App > Twitter to link your account to
your device.
Twitter has a limit of 1 image per tweet.
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Gallery: Sharing artwork 26

Facebook
Easily share your artwork with all of your Facebook
friends.
Supported filetype
JPG
If you have linked your Facebook account (Settings app >
Facebook) just share to Facebook to prepare an image for upload.
You can even share multiple images at once!
Once the images have been loaded, you can enter a message to
go with your images, choose the privacy settings or add a location.
To change the album Procreate places the images into, tap the
Album heading.
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Gallery: Sharing artwork 27

Sina Weibo
Its just as easy to share your artwork on the popular
Asian Facebook alternative.
Supported filetype
JPG

If you have linked your Sina Weibo account (Settings app > Sina
Weibo) just share to Sina Weibo to prepare an image for upload.
Add a customised message if you wish and hit Post to publish it to
your followers.
To access the Sina Weibo Sharing option, you will need to set up a Weibo
account in your iPads Settings app.
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Gallery: Sharing artwork 28

iTunes
Exporting to iTunes is great for speedy transfers and
backups to your Mac or PC.
Supported filetypes
PNG, JPG, Procreate and PSD.
After youve shared your artwork to iTunes, head over to your
computer.
Plug your device in using your cable and open iTunes. Once your
device is detected select it on the left pane.
With your device selected, choose the Apps heading along the
top and scroll down.
You should see a list of apps inside a box. Select Procreate and
drag the artwork out of iTunes or use the buttons to save the
artwork to your computer.
You can import a canvas back to Procreate by dropping it back into
this folder and using the Create > Import > iTunes feature.
Choose the Apps tab

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Gallery: Sharing artwork 29
Select Procreate
View exported files

Photos

Saving to Photos is a great way to save work in


progress, finished art or frequently used items.
Supported filetypes
PNG and JPG.
Sharing to Photos will place your flattened artwork into your
Camera Roll.
Pro tip
If you keep using the same assets in your artwork, why not save them out to
Photos so you can keep importing them and saving time? This works great

for characters, objects and your own signature.


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Gallery: Sharing artwork 30
Choose either JPG or PNG

Dropbox

Export to your personal Dropbox account in style.


Supported filetypes
PNG, JPG, Procreate and PSD.
If you have the Dropbox app installed, it will open and ask you to
link your account. After doing so, you are good to go.
If you dont have the Dropbox app installed, a dialogue box will pop
up asking you to enter your details to access your Dropbox
account.
Procreate is only a browser for your Dropbox and as such does not
modify your existing structure. If you experience problems with Dropbox
please contact the Dropbox team or try unlinking and relinking your
account via Settings app.
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Gallery: Sharing artwork 31

Section 4

Gallery groups

Grouping artwork is another great feature of


Procreates Gallery. Stay on top of your gallery by
learning how to make and name groups.
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Gallery: Gallery groups 32

Creating a Group
Groups are a great way to combine artworks and stay
organised.
To create a Group, drop a thumbnail on top of another. From here,
you can name the Group just like any other thumbnail by tapping
the title.
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Gallery: Gallery groups 33

Moving artwork out of a Group

A Group doesnt have to be permanent. Its just as


easy to move art out of a Group as it is to move it in.
To move artwork out of a Group, drag one or more thumbnails to
the title bar and let go.
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Gallery: Gallery groups 34

Renaming a Group
For those big projects, naming a Group is imperative.
Rename the gallery Group exactly the same way as you would
rename your singular artwork: tap the title to invoke the keyboard.
Tap Group title to edit

Procreate Artists' Handbook


Gallery: Gallery groups 35

Gestures
Section 1

General use

The following gestures are commonly used throughout


Procreate and are important to get you started.
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Gestures: General use 37

Paint, Smudge & Erase


Tap or drag your finger on the canvas to apply paint,
erase or smudge your art. Try varying the speed of
your finger, as many brushes are affected by how fast
you paint.
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Gestures: General use 38

Undo an action

Procreate comes with 250 undo states to make


painting a little less stressful. Just swipe with 3 fingers
from right to left to go back one step at a time.
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Gestures: General use 39

Redo an action
To redo an action when you press Undo too many
times, swipe from left to right with 3 fingers.
Procreate Artists' Handbook Gestures: General use 40

Clear layer
Instantly clear your layer by scrubbing out the layer
using 3 fingers in a back-and-forth motion anywhere
on the canvas. This is very handy when youre speed
painting or sketching concepts.
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Gestures: General use 41

Zoom in/out
Pinching the screen allows you to zoom in and out of
the canvas. The Procreate zoom feature is based
largely on speed, so try alternating your speed to suit
your style.
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Gestures: General use 42

Rotate Canvas
By simply rotating your fingers while pinching the
screen, you can change the orientation of your
canvas. This is great for getting the perfect angle on
those difficult strokes.
See page 209 for settings regarding canvas rotation.
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Gestures: General use 43

Fit to screen

To instantly fit the canvas to screen, quickly pinch


inwards. For best results, try lifting your fingers off the
screen as your pinch finishes.
To return to the exact place you were before you
quick-pinched, simply reverse your quick-pinch.
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Gestures: General use 44

Hide or show toolbars


To go into fullscreen drawing, tap 3 fingers on the
canvas. The toolbars will disappear to reveal a small
icon in the corner.
Tap 3 fingers or press the icon to bring the toolbars
back.
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Gestures: General use 45

Cut/Copy/Paste shortcuts
Swipe 3 fingers downwards to reveal shortcuts for cut,
copy and paste.
Procreate Artists' Handbook Gestures: General use 46

Section 2

Advanced use

The following gestures are much more task specific


and once learnt will save a lot of time with repeated
tasks.
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Gestures: Advanced use 47
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Gestures: Advanced use 48

Merge multiple layers


Simply pinch two layers together to merge those
layers and any layer in between.
Procreate Artists' Handbook Gestures: Advanced use 49

Creating layers
Pinch apart 2 layers to insert a new layer between.
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Gestures: Advanced use 50

Layer opacity
Tap a layer thumbnail with two fingers to instantly
engage the opacity controls for that layer.
See page 142 for more info on layer opacity.
Procreate Artists' Handbook Gestures: Advanced use 51

Alpha Lock
Swipe a layer from left to right to quickly toggle Alpha
Lock.
See page 137 for more info on Alpha Lock.

Reference Layer
Swipe a layer from left to right with two fingers to
define your ColorDrop Reference Layer.
See page 110 for more info on ColorDrop.
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Gestures: Advanced use 52

Canvas orientation
While in the Gallery, rotate an artwork with two fingers
to change between portrait and landscape orientation.
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Gestures: Advanced use 53

View canvas 1:1


Tapping the canvas with 4 fingers will frame your
artwork at a 1:1 pixel view, meaning 1 pixel onscreen
equals 1 pixel on your canvas.
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Brushes
Section 1

The Procreate brush system

The following section will teach you about Procreates


next generation brush system. Learn how to navigate
between brush sets, share and import brushes, and
how to customise your library.
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Brushes: The Procreate brush system 56

Game-changing brushes
Youll notice the brushes feel different in Procreate.
Thats because they are different.
For the last 30 years, brushes in digital painting have been done
the same way. Procreate takes a step forward, putting serious
power into its brush system. We do this by splitting our brushes
into 2 core elements; Shape and Grain.
The following section will teach you about Procreates next
generation brush system. Learn how to navigate between brush
sets, share and import brushes, and how to customise your library.
For more info on shapes & grains see later in this chapter.
Shape
Grain

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Brushes: The Procreate brush system 57
Result
Tap twice to open popover

Procreate Artists' Handbook


Brushes: The Procreate brush system 58

Using the Brush tool


Tapping the paintbrush icon will switch to paint mode.
This where you will spend most of your time.

Your selected tool will appear blue to indicate it is active. Tap it


again to show the brush library.
Your brush library is a collection of brushes shared between all of
your tools. This means quick and easy access to an incredible
arsenal for painting, smudging or erasing.
At the top of the popover youll notice the Brush Sets. These keep
your brushes neatly organised. You can swipe the Brush Sets Panel
left and right to navigate.
Once youve selected a brush, tap outside the popover to close it
and begin painting.
Each tool will remember your last settings, so frequently switching
between brushes isnt a hassle.
Pro tip
Tap and hold an unselected Paint, Smudge or Erase icon to transfer the
active brush settings over from the selected icon. This method can be great
for painting and erasing with exactly the same brush.
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Brushes: The Procreate brush system 59
Swipe left and right

Navigating your Brush Sets


Enjoy the many brushes Procreate has to offer through
neat, organised Brush Sets.
Multiple Sets
Procreate comes with many exciting brushes organised into
convenient themes.
To navigate the different pages, swipe left and right over your
Brush Set icons.
To the far right youll find an option to create your own Brush Set.
Drag and drop amongst brush sets

Rearranging your Brushes


Drag and drop Brushes and Brush Sets to improve
your workflow.
Procreates shared brush library can be rearranged to your liking
with a drag and drop feature. They can even be moved in and out
of different sets if you require.

Moving brushes

Tap and hold the brush you wish to move. Drag it to the new
position and let go to drop it in place. If you hover over a brush set

you can drop it into a new set.


If the brush you drag is a default brush (that was there when you
bought Procreate) it will duplicate it so you dont misplace the
original.
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Brushes: The Procreate brush system 60

Brush Actions
Swipe a Brush from right to left to reveal contextsensitive actions.
Share
If you have a brush youre finding useful, share it with friends. See
next page for more info.

Duplicate

If you want to further experiment with a brush while retaining the


original, use the duplicate option.

Delete

Delete a custom brush. Be careful, this is final.

Reset

Default Procreate brushes cannot be deleted, only reset to their


original settings.
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Sharing brushes
Share your best brushes with your friends or find
someone elses on the internet.
It couldnt be easier to share your brushes: just swipe the Brush
thumbnail and select the Share option. Procreate will package your
brush into
a .brush file and you can choose how to share it from there.

Importing

Search the internet or the Procreate Forums for new brushes to


download. See the next page for more info on importing brushes.
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Brushes: The Procreate brush system 63
Tap to import through Dropbox

Importing brushes
Bring other useful brushes into your own Procreate
app via two methods:
In-app Import
The other half of sharing is receiving! You can import other brushes
straight to your app. Tap the New Brush icon then locate the Import
button in the top right to import a brush from Dropbox. The new
brush will be placed in the currently selected set.

File Association

If you have a .brush file online or in an email, tap and hold it to be


prompted to import the new brush to Procreate. Your newly
acquired brush will be placed in a specially created folder called
Imported. Swipe to the last Brush Set panel to find it.
Editing options
New Set icon

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Brushes: The Procreate brush system 64

Custom sets
Organise your Custom Brushes into your own Brush
Set.
Creating a new Brush Set
If you keep swiping from right to left inside the Brush Sets panel,
youll find the icon to create a new Brush Set.
Tap the icon to name your group and once confirmed you can drop
and drag the new group wherever you like.

Renaming or deleting

To change the name of the Brush Set down the track, double tap
the icon and choose rename.
Thinner paint Amount of paint

Emulate traditional media


Although Procreate is all about digital painting, it also
has the ability to mimic real-life painting behaviour without the mess.
Dilution
Increasing the dilution value will simulate a thinner paint with lots
of water. It will apply paint and smudge at the same time, giving a
very fluid result.

Charge
Just like when using a real brush, you can set how much paint your
brush will apply before it runs out.
Charge cannot be used with Glaze turned on or when Dilution is zero.
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Brushes: The Procreate brush system 65
Glaze setting

The digital standard


To paint in a purely digital manner, enable the Glaze
setting.
Glaze
When you turn Glaze on (Advanced Brush Settings > Dynamics
tab) your brush will behave in a purely digital manner much like
Adobe Photoshop. It will not build up on itself until you release
your finger and paint again.
Glaze and Dilution cannot both be on at the same time.
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Brushes: The Procreate brush system 66

Section 2

Tweaking your brush settings


Tap a selected brush to see the 25+ settings that
control your brush. The following pages will briefly
describe how each slider will affect your brush.
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Brushes: Tweaking your brush settings 67

Stroke settings
What is a Stroke?
When you move your finger or stylus across the screen, Procreate
is plotting your stroke using many points - much like a curve on a
graph. These points all join together to form a line which can vary
greatly depending on your brushs settings.

Stroke plot

Spacing
Spacing is the amount of space added between each plot point in
your stroke. Increasing the space will create more gaps in your
brush.

Jitter
Jitter refers to the amount of distance by which your shape will be
offset from the stroke plot. Smaller values will look more like a solid
line, while higher values will spread the shape out and hide the
visible line you draw.

Stroke taper:

Start stroke taper


This will apply a taper to the start of your stroke. The higher the
value the greater the taper.
End stroke taper
This will apply a taper to the end of your stroke. The higher the
value the greater the taper.
Opacity stroke taper
Opacity stroke taper allows you to adjust the amount of opacity
applied to a taper.
Size stroke taper
Size stroke taper allows you to adjust the size of the taper.
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Shape settings
What is a Shape?
A shape is just like a stamp. The image you select as the Shape will
be repeatedly 'stamped' over the course of a stroke. You could also
think of the Shape as a container for the grain.
Scatter
Changing scatter will change the orientation of your brush as your
stroke progresses. Higher values will give a messy, rough feeling
while low values will be like a streaky brush. Scatter is not affected
by brush direction.
Rotation
The rotation slider affects how your brush reacts to directional
change. A range of unique effects can be achieved from a flat
calligraphy brush, to ribbon effects. The rotation slider has three
main points:
100% Inverse makes the shape rotate inversely to stroke
direction. 'Static' locks shape direction to remain static.
'Follow stroke' causes the shape to follow your painting direction.
Randomised
When OFFInitial shape direction is based on the strokes
beginning. When ONdirection is different for the beginning of

every stroke. This can give each stroke a unique behaviour and a
more organic feel.
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Grain settings
What is a Grain?
Procreate brushes are created using dual images. One image is for
the shape of the brush, and the other is for the texture. We call the
brush texture, the grain.
Think of the brush shape, as a container for the grain. And think of
the grain, like a paint roller. When you paint a stroke, the grain is
rolled inside the shape and on to the canvas.

Grain Behaviour

Movement
When set to 'Stamp' the grain texture will not roll at all. Instead it
will smear the grain. When set to 'Rolling' the grain will apply its
texture just like a repeating paint roller.
Scale
Grain scale adjusts the size of the grain texture inside the shape.
Zoom
When set to 'Follow size' the grain will scale with your brush shape.
When set to 'Cropped' the grain is locked and the brush shape will
scale independently, from the grain. A great way to understand
how zoom works is to use the precision slider preview.
Rotation
Grain rotation is very similar to Grain movement. This setting will
smear and slur the grain imagebased on directional stroke
changes. The rotation slider has three main points along the slider:
100% Inverse makes the grain rotate inversely to stroke
direction. 'Static' locks grain direction to remain static.
'Follow stroke' causes the grain to follow your stroke direction.
Filtered
ON applies Antialiasing to your grain texture. OFF can cause the
grain to become jagged and coarse.
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Dynamics settings
What are Brush Dynamics?
As the name suggests these settings are applied on-the-fly and

allow for very unique and organic results.

Colour mix

Fallof
Affects the overall length of the stroke. All effects will be applied
within this setting. For example you might have a brush with
maximum wetness but if the falloff value is high, it will only be
applied over a short stroke.
Dilution
Dilution is directly related to the Paint characteristic. Varying
values of dilution will create different levels of water in your paint.
When a high amount of dilution is applied to your brush, the brush
will mix and pull more paint as you drag it around.
Charge
Charge refers to the amount of virtual paint applied to a brush. For
instance, when set to 0 the virtual paint will run out almost
instantly. The Charge setting is great for traditional artists!
Glazed
When ON, your brush will paint in a uniform transparent manner
and will no longer 'build up' over time. Because of this, the Glaze
effect behaves exactly the same as default Photoshop brushes.

Opacity variance

Speed
Opacity will vary depending on the speed of your stroke.
Pressure
Opacity will vary depending on the pressure of your smart stylus.
Jitter
The stroke will vary in opacity as it is stamped across the canvas.

Size variance

Speed
Size will vary depending on the speed of your stroke.
Pressure
Size will vary depending on the pressure of your smart stylus.
Jitter
The stroke will vary in size as it is stamped across the canvas.
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Brushes: Tweaking your brush settings 71

General settings
Here you will find characteristics that apply to the
brush as a whole.
Properties

Orient to iPad Screen


When ON, oriented will cause the brush to orientate itself
according to the iPad screen orientation.
Use stamp preview
When ON, stamp view will cause your brush preview to display only
the brush shape file. Stamp view can be very useful when the grain
is not a significant part of the brush.

Size limits

Max size
Maximum size is responsible for determining the maximum radius
that the brush can reach. By default, all brushes can reach 100%
radius. However, if a brush has a spacing value greater than 12%,
the brush can reach an incredible 400% radius. Essentially, more
spacing allows bigger sized brushes.
Min size
Minimum size is responsible for determining the minimum radius
the brush can be lowered to.

Opacity limits

Max opacity
Maximum opacity is responsible for determining the maximum
amount of opacity the brush can reach.
Min opacity
Minimum opacity is responsible for determining the minimum
amount of opacity the brush can be lowered to.
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Source settings
What are source textures?
Procreate brushes are created using dual images; One image for
the shape of the brush, and one image for the texture. Think of the
brush shape as a container for the grain. And think of the grain,
like a paint roller. When you paint a stroke, the grain is rolled onto
the canvas. Using the below settings, you can modify the image
source files used to create the brush.

Import shape/grain from:

iTunes
Use an image from Procreates iTunes folder on your iPad.
Dropbox
Import an image from your personal Dropbox account.
Photos

Load an image from your Photos library.


Pro Library
Tapping this option will load the Procreate source library. This
library contains the shapes and grains used to create the great
tools that ship with Procreate. The Pro library is a great way to
familiarise yourself with the Procreate brush system and see what
kind of image makes an interesting brush!
Pro tip
Shape and grain files should generally be round in nature. Note that white
areas of the image will cause the brush to apply paint and black areas be
transparent.
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Brushes: Tweaking your brush settings 73

Section 3

Making custom brushes

Now that youve learnt about navigating your brush


library and the many characteristics behind each
brush, youll be ready to make your very own brushes
in Procreate!
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Brushes: Making custom brushes 74
Tap to create a custom brush

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: Making custom brushes 75


Grain Source
Shape Source

Create your own brush


Experimenting with new brushes can be a lot of fun,
with great results!
Tapping the + icon will take you to the brush creation screen,
where you can import images for the foundations of a Procreate
brush; Shape and Grain.
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Brushes: Making custom brushes 76

The pieces that


make up a Procreate brush

Shape
The brush shape is a container that houses the grain. Whatever
your grain is, it will fit inside the shape just like a stencil.
Grain
Think of the grain as a paint roller. When you paint a stroke, the
grain is rolled onto the canvas.
You can load an image from the Pro Library, Dropbox, iTunes or
your own Photos camera roll. The images found in the Pro Library
are those used by the Procreate default brushes.
Once you have entered both Shape and Grain, the icons for brush
settings will appear along the bottom of the pane, allowing you to
start editing your brushs behaviour. You must enter both Shape
and Grain to save your brush.
Shape
Grain

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Brushes: Making custom brushes 77
Result

Use 100% black for pure transparency

Create your own grain/shape


The most amazing brushes can come from
experimenting. A couple of things to remember so you
keep making the best possible brushes:
With Procreates square canvas size creating a brush has never
been easier. Here are a couple of tips to make your brush creation
easier:
Pure black will be 100% transparent, while 100% white will be
solid. Anywhere in between will be semi-transparent.
Remember, grains work better when they are seamless. There are
some great tutorials online on how to make seamless textures.
The key to discovering great brushes is to experiment. Put a
random photo into grain or shape, tweak a few sliders and see
what happens!
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Brushes: Making custom brushes 78
Use 100% white for pure opaqueness

Inverting source images


Within the Source tab of the Advanced Brush Settings
popover you can invert your source image.
Tap the thumbnail of the source image with two fingers to invert it.

This will make blacks white and vice versa. This will greatly impact
the way it paints your canvas and can be great for reversing the
effect of a grain.
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Brushes: Making custom brushes 79

Rotating source images


Within the Source tab of the Advanced Brush Settings
popover you can rotate your source image.
Pinch and rotate the thumbnail of the source image to rotate it in
90-degree increments. This is particularly handy for when you have
a specialty brush that needs to follow an exact path or direction.
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Brushes: Making custom brushes 80

Sharing custom brushes


Sharing your custom brush is simple!
By swiping the thumbnail of the brush in the Brushes popover you
will reveal the Share option. Tap Share to package your custom
brush into a .brush file to sent to friends via email, push to your
Dropbox account or export to iTunes.
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Brushes: Making custom brushes 81

Smudge
Section 1

Smudging colours

Find out how to get the most responsive colourblending on a mobile platform. Procreate uses 64-bits
per pixel to smudge and once youve tried it you wont
go back to anything less.
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Smudge: Smudging colours 83

Smudge tool

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Smudge: Smudging colours 84

Smudge tool
Select the smudge icon and tap it again to bring up the smudge
popover. Once you have selected your smudging brush, tap outside
the popover.
Remember that Smudge shares the same library as Paint, so why
not experiment smudging with weird brushes for unexpected
results.
Full strength

Different strengths, different effects.


The Smudge tool gives varying effects depending on
the value of the opacity slider.
Higher strengths
By using Smudge at full pressure, colour will really be pushed
around, like wet paint. It will mess up colours very quickly and
quite often give harsh drag lines as you smear the paint.

Lower strengths

At lower strengths smudge will be smoother and softer. This is


particularly useful for creating very smooth gradients or smudging
pencil drawings.
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Smudge: Smudging colours 85

Erase
Section 1

The Eraser tool

Fixing mistakes has never been easier. Youll also learn


how to match erasing with artwork.
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Erase: The Eraser tool 87

Procreate Artists' Handbook


Erase: The Eraser tool 88
Eraser tool

Fixing mistakes
Slip-ups happen to the best of us. Luckily, Procreate
has the same great brush control when using an
eraser.
Eraser tool
The eraser tool is controlled just like the paint and smudge tools.
Tap the icon once to select it, or twice to choose your brush.
Pro tip:
Using the eraser with a hard brush shape can be great for making rough
edges smooth and sharp.
Alternatively, try a rough brush at a low opacity to blend a layer without
seeing an obvious edge.
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Erase: The Eraser tool 89

Match your eraser with the style of the art


By matching your eraser with your painting brush,
youll hide obvious areas that youve touched up.
Using the example of the artwork to the left, we might choose
something with very little texture, as the strokes are quite smooth
and flat.
Or, if youre sketching, pick an eraser that has a similar texture to
the pencil. That way, if you happen to go over any lines you wont
get an obvious, harsh line like you would with a flat eraser.
You can also use this technique to fade off or lighten areas where
the pencil is too dark.

Section 2

Other ways to correct


artwork

Read about how to quickly manage your mistakes

using undo/redo and clearing a layer.


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Procreate Artists' Handbook
Erase: Other ways to correct artwork 91

Undo and redo


Procreate comes with up to 250 undo and redo states.
Thats a lot.
Tap the undo/redo arrow to find where you went wrong, and try
again. When cycling through your undo/redo states a notification
will let you know which action was last affected by the undo/redo.
Alternatively, you can use the gestures. See page 37 for more
information on gestures.
Once Procreate has been exited from Multitasking or you return to the
Gallery, all undo and redo states will be cleared.
Clear the selected layer

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Erase: Other ways to correct artwork 92

Clearing a layer
There are two ways to quickly clear an entire layer and
be sure there are no traces remaining.
Open the Layers popover and select the layer you wish to clear.
Tap it again to reveal the Clear option.
For an even quicker solution, you can also use the Clear Layer
gesture. See page 37 for more information on gestures.

Colours
Section 1

Selecting colours

Press the colour swatch in the top right of the toolbar


to access the Procreate Colour popover.

From here you can play with colour or use a favourite


colour that youve saved as a swatch.
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Colours: Selecting colours 94
Previous colour
New colour
Colour selection
Saturation
Current colour reticle
Brightness
Hue
Current palette title
Favourite swatches. Swipe right to left to reveal more palettes.

Playing with colour

Procreate comes with a colour picker that encourages


you to play and experiment.
Colour Ring
Tap on the colour icon in the top right, to open the colour popover.
By default you will see the Colour Ring.
The previously selected colour will be displayed on the left split of
the preview to compare with the new colour. You can return to the
previous colour by tapping in this area.
Once youre happy with the colour, tap off the pane to close it or
see the next section on how to save your colour as a favourite.
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Colours: Selecting colours 95
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Colours: Selecting colours 96

Even more control


When youve found the perfect hue, use the zoomable
colour disc to get even more colours to choose from.
Zoomable saturation disc
Pinch the saturation disc to expand it out to full size. Once
expanded, the saturation disc will work just the same as the
smaller size but youll have much more control over fine
adjustments. Procreate will remember if you prefer to work in this
mode which can be great for complex shading using similar values.
Current Colour
New colour
Colour selection
Hue Saturation Brightness
Favourite swatches. Swipe right to left to reveal more palettes.

An alternate colour picker


Procreate also comes with a classic colour picker
thatll be familiar to veterans of digital art.
Classic colour picker
To enable this colour picker, head to Actions > Prefs > Classic
colour picker.
Tap on the colour icon in the top right to open the colour pane.
Choose your colour using the HSB sliders.
The previously selected colour will be displayed on the left split of
the preview to compare with the new colour.
Once youre happy with the colour, tap off the pane to close it or
see the next section on how to save your colour as a favourite.
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Colours: Selecting colours 97

Sampling from the canvas


Rapidly select a new colour from anywhere on your
canvas.
Eyedropper
Tap and hold anywhere on the canvas to invoke the Eyedropper. If
you find the gesture too quick, head to the Actions popover > Prefs
tab to change the delay.
Your new colour is displayed on the top half of the loupe and the
current colour on the bottom half. As soon as you let go, your new
colour is selected.
See page 185 for more info on the Actions popover.
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Colours: Selecting colours 98

Section 2

Saving colours

Finding the perfect colour can be a difficult task.


Swatches make things easier by allowing you to save
an exact colour to a Swatch Palette for later use.
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Colours: Saving colours 99
Currently selected colour
Swatch palette

Saved swatch Empty swatch

Saving a colour
When its important to keep a particular colour, save it
as a swatch for quick access later.
Save a colour
Below the colour picker youll notice a grid. This is a swatch
palette. To save the currently selected colour tap an empty swatch
in the swatch palette.

Selecting a saved colour

Tapping a saved swatch will load that colour, ready for use.
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Colours: Saving colours 100

Reordering a swatch
To create an idea of how colours might work together
you may prefer to change the order of how the
swatches sit within the palette.
Move your swatch
Tap and hold a saved swatch to pick it up and drop it in the new
location.
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Colours: Saving colours 101

Removing unwanted swatches


When youre done with a particular swatch, remove it
from your palette.
Delete your swatch
Tap and hold on the unwanted swatch, drag it outside the Colour
popover and let go. The swatch will fall off-screen and be
permanently deleted.
Alternatively, double tap a swatch to be greeted with the pop up
menu to delete.
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Colours: Saving colours 102

Section 3

Loading more colours

Procreates palette library allows you to save multiple


colour schemes for quick, app-wide access in every
artwork.
You can even share your own or import another artists
favourite swatch palette.
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Colours: Loading more colours 103

Accessing more Palettes


Quickly load and unload swatch palettes through
Procreates simple Palette Library.
Open the Palette Library
With the Colour popover open, swipe from right to left over the
currently loaded swatch palette to reveal the Palette Library.
Alternatively, tap the title of the currently loaded palette.
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Colours: Loading more colours 104

Choosing a new Palette


Swap Palettes in and out as you need.
Loading the Palette
Tap the header of the swatch palette (where the title sits) to select
that palette. Youll see a tick appear on the right to say that it has
been loaded.
To exit the Palette Library, swipe anywhere in the popover from left
to right. Youll notice that your selected palette has now replaced
the old one.
Pro tip
You can directly select a swatch in this view without selecting the whole
palette by tapping on it. This can be very handy to work between several
palettes without having to constantly switch them out.
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Colours: Loading more colours 105

Organising swatch palettes


As your collection of swatch palettes grows, keep
them organised in a few easy steps.
Renaming your swatch palettes

Tap the title of a selected palette to invoke the keyboard and


rename it.

Arranging your palettes

Tap and hold a palette to pull it out of the stack. Drag and drop it to
the desired location.
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Colours: Loading more colours 106

Sharing your palettes


Procreate allows artists to share and import their
favourite swatches.
Share a swatch palette
Swipe from right to left over the palette you want to share. This will
expose the Share option.
From here you can share to iTunes, Dropbox or Email. Your swatch
palette will take the title of the palette and add a .swatches file
extension.
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Colours: Loading more colours 107

Using other artists palettes


Use the Import Swatches function to expand your
library of colour schemes.
Import a swatch palette
Swipe from top to bottom in the swatch palette popover to reveal
the Import Swatches button. Tap the button to be greeted with the
options to import from iTunes or Dropbox.
Alternatively, while using your iPad you can just tap the file in your
email client or internet browser to import it directly. Procreate will
recognise the file and automatically place it in your Palette Library.
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Colours: Loading more colours 108

Removing unused palettes


When you no longer need or use a colour scheme,
delete a whole palette in one action.
Delete a swatch palette
Swipe from right to left over the palette you want to delete. This
will expose the Delete option.
Tap Delete, and then confirm that you still want to delete the

palette. Be careful, because once you delete a swatch palette


there is no way of getting it back.
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Colours: Loading more colours 109

Section 4

Fill with colour

ColorDrop is Procreates answer to the well known


paint bucket. Its been fine tuned to give amazing fills
when you quickly need to block out colour. Read on to
see how to fill your shapes, adjust the threshold and
keep your ink and colour separate.
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Colours: Fill with colour 110
Drag from here

ColorDrop
A great timesaver for graphic artists who often work
with large blocks of flat colour. ColorDrop lets you
quickly fill in shapes and build your artwork.
Engage ColorDrop
Drag the Colour icon out onto the canvas and let go. Youll see the
colour drop onto the canvas and fill out until it finds a boundary.
If your ColorDrop leaks through a gap, try closing the gap before
filling again. You could also tweak the ColorDrop threshold, which
determines how aggressively the algorithm detects edges.
Pro tip:
To cancel ColorDrop, drop the colour anywhere in the top toolbar.
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Colours: Fill with colour 111
Threshold readout

ColorDrop Threshold
Tweak the way ColorDrop detects edges to get the
best results.
Adjust the threshold
Begin your ColorDrop by dragging your colour to your canvas.
Without lifting your finger, pause over the desired fill area.

ColorDrop will activate and, before you lift your finger, slide left
and right to adjust how aggressively it attacks edges.
Lifting your finger will commit the ColorDrop and from then on
ColorDrop will remember the threshold setting until you change it
again.
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Colours: Fill with colour 112

Reference Layer
An advanced feature designed for cartoonists and
concept artists that keeps colour fills and ink separate.
Reference Layer works exclusively with ColorDrop to reference the
active ref layer (indicated by a purple layer) and fill to the normal
selected layer.
Swipe a layer with two fingers to activate it as the Reference.
Select another layer, and ColorDrop can fill into the selected layer,
based on the Reference.
To turn the Reference Layer off, simply swipe it the same way you
did to activate it.
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Colours: Fill with colour 113

Layers
Section 1

Building up layered artwork

Layers are an extremely versatile benefit, unique to


digital painting. Tap the second icon from the right in
the toolbar to access the Layers popover. This section
will cover the basics of working with layers.
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Procreate Artists' Handbook
Layers: Building up layered artwork 116
Create new layer

Creating a layer
Create new layers with the + icon. A new layer will
automatically be inserted above the current layer.
You can also create a new layer between two layers by pinching
them apart. See page 49 for a guide to this gesture.

Moving layers

Rearrange layers with a tap and hold.


To change the order of the layers, hold the layer and drag up or
down. Release to set the new order.
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Procreate Artists' Handbook
Layers: Building up layered artwork 118
Visibility OFF

Layer visibility
Turn a layers visibility on or off by tapping the leftaligned circle.
If a layer is hidden it cannot be drawn on. If you try to draw on a
layer that is hidden youll be notified via a simple dialogue.
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Layers: Building up layered artwork 119

Blending layers
Artists familiar with desktop painting will be at home
with Procreates many blend modes.
Blend modes are based on old photographic and new digital
techniques to add interesting effects to an image.
To change the blend mode, tap the small letter in the circle on the
right of each layer. See section 3 of this chapter for a more detailed
explanation of Blend modes.
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Layers: Building up layered artwork 120

Merging Layers
Merging is a great way to free up layers in your
artwork.
To merge, pinch together the top layer you want to merge and the

bottom layer. Every layer in between will be merged into one.


Merging layers will apply any blending mode to the pixels below
and will also disregard any alpha lock.
If you reach your layer limit, look through your layers for any you
are happy with to merge together. Its best to merge only once
youre happy with what youve drawn.

Background layer

Procreate gives you a free layer to place a solid colour


of your choosing underneath your canvas.
To change the colour, tap on the Background layer at the bottom of
the layers panel. You can choose any colour you like and access
any favourites you have saved along the way.
In some cases, you may want to turn the layer off to export a PNG
with transparency. To do this, tap the Layer Visibility icon, as per
turning off a normal layer. You will then see the grid background,
indicating transparency.
Tap the Background layer to change the colour

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Layers: Building up layered artwork 121

Section 2

Extra layer options

Once you have the Layers popover open, select a


layer by tapping on it and tap it again to access the
layer options.
Read on for explanations of each feature you can
tweak per layer.
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Tap title to edit

Procreate Artists' Handbook


Layers: Extra layer options 123

Renaming a layer
Naming layers can make working in complex artwork
even quicker.
Your layers will be given sequentially numbered titles until you
choose to change them. If you have 3 layers already and create a

4th, that layer will be called Layer 4.


Selecting the Rename option will invoke the iPad keyboard. When
you are finished editing, tap the return or dismiss keyboard key.
Clear and Fill

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Layers: Extra layer options 124

Clear and Fill layer


Quickly clear a layers contents or fill it with the
currently selected colour.
Clear layer
Just like it suggests, it will clear the entire layer. It will not,
however, reset the blending mode, or opacity levels you have set
for that layer.

Fill layer

Tapping Fill layer will use the currently selected colour to fill the
whole layer evenly. Any artwork on this layer will be overwritten
with a flat colour.
Pro tip:
Using Fill with Alpha Lock on will only fill the used pixels on that layer.
Masked area
Select Contents

Select layer contents


Quickly choose the area of paint on the canvas for
greater control over further actions.
By tapping Select layer contents, you will enter Selections mode
and immediately see an applied selection. From here you can
transform your selection, copy it, paint inside it, etc.
When you are finished with the selection, just tap the Selections
icon to finalise it.
Non-masked area

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Layers: Extra layer options 125

Section 3

Blending modes

This section will give a brief description on the blend


modes available in Procreate. You can change the

blend modes by tapping the letter representing the


blend mode running down the right side of the Layers
popover.
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Procreate Artists' Handbook
Layers: Blending modes 127

Darken blend modes


Multiply
The best mode for darkening. Great for creating shadows and
removing whites and other light colours.
Linear Burn
Darker than Multiply but less saturated than Color Burn.
Color Burn
Darker than Multiply with more saturated mid-tones and slightly
reduced highlights.
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Lighten
Lighten
If the pixels of the selected layer are lighter than the ones on the
layers below, they are kept in the image.
Screen
Lightens the layer where it blends with the pixels beneath. Screen
is the exact opposite to Multiply mode and visually will make dark
pixels appear transparent.
Add
Lightens the layers underneath, just like Screen but has a much
greater effect, causing awesome effects like blooming lights or
image burn.
Color Dodge
Brighter than the Screen blend mode. Typically results in saturated
mid-tones and blown highlights.
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Contrast
Overlay
Uses a combination of the Screen blend mode on the lighter pixels,

and the Multiply blend mode on the darker pixels.


Hard Light
Works similar to Overlay but uses the selected layers intensity.
Soft Light
A half-strength application of the Overlay mode resulting in a
softer, more organic effect.
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Layers: Blending modes 130

Difference
Exclusion
Produces an effect like that in a negative photograph but with less
contrast to the Difference blend mode. Mid range colours tend to
go grey and washed out.
Diference
Produces a negative or inverted effect relative to the difference
between the layers. Black pixels denote no difference between
layers.
Subtract
Subtracts the selected layers colour from the underlying colours. If
the selected colour is black, the result colour is the underlying
colour.
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Color
Hue
Takes the luminosity and saturation of the underlying colours and
the hue of the blend colour. Try overlaying an artwork with a Hue
layer to change the mood.
Saturation
Result colour has the luminosity and hue of the layers below and
the saturation of the selected layer.
Color
Color uses the luminosity of the layers underneath and the hue and
saturation of the selected layer. Grey levels are maintained which
is very useful for colouring monochrome images.
Luminosity
Luminosity uses the hue and saturation of the layers underneath
and sets the luminosity of the selected layer.

Section 4

Quick layer actions

Swipe a layer to the left to access 4 options: Select,


Copy, Duplicate or Delete.
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Layers: Quick layer actions 132

Quick actions
Swipe any layer to the left, to reveal quick actions.
Select
Tap the select button to rapidly select the contents of the layer.

Copy

After swiping the layer tap Copy to add the image data to your
iPads clipboard. You can use that data to paste into another
Procreate canvas, email it, or use it in another app.
See page 169 for more information about how to use selection tools.
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Layers: Quick layer actions 133
Duplicated layer will be placed above original

Duplicate

Duplicating a layer can be great for trialling changes


without affecting the original.
To duplicate your layer, swipe the layer thumbnail in the Layers
popover to see the Duplicate option.
Tap the Duplicate icon and your layer will be copied and pasted as
a new layer.
If you have reached the maximum number of layers you will need
to merge layers to make room for the duplicate layer.
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Layers: Quick layer actions 134
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Layers: Quick layer actions 135

Delete a layer
Swipe the layer to the left to access the layer delete
option.
You can undo this action, but once you have run out of undos,
leave or background the app, you will no longer be able to restore

the layer.

Section 5

Advanced layer features

This section explains 2 advanced features: Alpha Lock


and Reference Layer.
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Layers: Advanced layer features 136
Alpha Lock indicator

Alpha Lock
Procreate comes with the ability to lock a layers
transparency (or alpha). Once your edges are right,
you will never have to do them again.
Lock a layers transparency
Once you have blocked out your shape, swipe left to right on the
selected layer to lock the alpha. From here on, you will only be able
to paint or smudge inside the area that already has paint on it.
If you want to touch up an edge, or add to it, simply turn the Alpha
Lock off, tidy it up and flick it back on to preserve the alpha once
again.
Pro tip:
If you lock a layers alpha, you can use the Layer Fill option to fill all the used
pixels on that layer with a solid colour.
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Reference Layer
An advanced feature designed for cartoonists and
concept artists that keeps colour fills and ink separate.
Reference Layer works exclusively with ColorDrop to reference the
active ref layer (indicated by a purple layer) and fill to the normal
selected layer.
Swipe a layer with two fingers to activate it as the Reference.
Select another layer, and ColorDrop can fill into the selected layer,
based on the Reference.
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Adjustments
Section 1

Applying an effect

Transform your artwork with professional image


effects.
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Gaussian Blur
Gaussian blur can be used for smoothing things out,
creating out-of-focus effects and even for creating
shadows.
Blur a layer
Tap the desired layer, and then select Gaussian blur from the
Adjustments menu. To increase the strength of the Gaussian blur,
slide across the screen from left to right.
Pro tip:
For precision effects, slide your finger across the screen slowly. Slower
speeds will be more accurate while higher speeds will rapidly increase the
strength of effects.
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Opacity
The opacity percentage determines the amount the
layer obscures or shows the layer beneath it. Layer
opacity is an invaluable effect for compositing.
Adjust layer opacity
Making sure you have the correct layer selected, choose Opacity
from the Adjustments menu.

To make the layer more transparent, slide from right to left across
the screen.
Unlike other adjustments, Opacity is non-destructive. This means
you can adjust the transparency of a layer whenever you like,
however many times you like.
Pro tip:
You can also adjust the opacity level of a layer by tapping that layer with two
fingers in the Layers Menu. Use whichever method fits your workflow.
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Sharpen
Sharpening a layer will create sharp transitions
between light and dark areas. Use Sharpen to make
things feel in focus.
Sharpen a layer
Make sure youre on the correct layer and then select Sharpen from
the Adjustments menu. To increase the Sharpen strength, slide
across the screen from left to right.
Pro tip:
Almost any layer can benefit from smart use of sharpening. So dont be
afraid to experiment!
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Noise
Noise randomly messes with the brightness and colour
information of pixels, creating an electronic noise
effect.
Add Noise to a layer
With the correct layer selected, tap Noise from the Adjustments
menu. To increase the strength of Noise, slide across the screen
from left to right.
Pro tip:
Experiment with blend modes to enhance images. Try increasing image
contrast by using a combination of Noise and blend modes, or have some
fun recreating analogue film grain effects.
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Section 2

Enhancing an image

This section will help unlock the power of advanced


image adjustments such as HSB, Color Balance and
Curves.
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Saturation
Hue

Hue, Saturation, Brightness


HSB allows you to adjust the hue, colour strength and
brightness of any given layer.
Toggle visibility
Brightness

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Color Balance
Color Balance can be used to correct or to stylise
images.
Cyan
Red
Magenta
Green
Yellow
Blue

Colours in digital form are made from three primary colours; red,
green and blue. This is very different from traditional media,
because youre dealing with light as opposed to pigments. The
right extremity of the bars show red, green and blue. The left
extremity shows the opposite colour for each of these primaries.
Sliding in one direction will make the overall layer shift toward that
color value.
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Highlights
Midtones Shadows

Fine tune colour


Finely adjust the tonal values of your artwork, by using
Color Balance modifiers.

Highlights
Highlights will adjust the lighter levels in the layer.

Midtones

Adjusting the middle tones of a layer is the best way to achieve a


fairly even adjustment. By default, Midtones are ON

Shadows

Tapping Shadows will allow you to adjust the colours of the darker
areas in a layer.
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Curves
The tonal curve is probably the most powerful
adjustment.
White point
Highlights
Midtones
Shadows
Black point

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The layer tonal values are represented as a straight line on the


grid. Moving a node in the top area of the grid will adjust the
highlights of your layer. Moving a node in the centre of the line, will
adjust the midtones and moving a node in the bottom section will
adjust darker areas of your layer.
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New node

Manipulating points
Tapping anywhere inside the grid will create a node
which will bend the curve.
Dragging a node up will affect the lightness of your layer. Dragging
a node down will affect the darkness of the layer.
Likewise, dragging a node left or right will decreases or increase
contrast. You can create up to 11 nodes, so try experimenting by
bending a few curves and watch what happens to the layer!
Pro tip:
You can easily delete a node by dragging it outside of the grid bounds.
Overall Gamma Red channel
Green channel Blue channel

RGB channels
Unlock the power of curves by isolating the RGB
channels of your layer.
With Procreate, youre not limited to adjusting the overall gamma.
You can also adjust layers by editing the Curves on the red, green,
and blue channels, independently.
Making a Curve adjustment to each colour channel allows
practically limitless varieties of colour corrections and effects.
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Recolor
Quickly and conveniently change areas of colour with
a live preview.
Current colour
Threshold
Recolor crosshair
Cancel

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Recolor is a great way for graphic artists to tweak specific areas of


colour without the hassle of erasing and re- cutting into existing
shapes. In the above image weve turned the previously red
backpack to a green. Recolor works best on flat colours.
Make use of the Colour popover to nail that perfect colour

The Recolor crosshair

There are two methods to moving the crosshair: tap or


drag.
Tap
Tapping the screen will apply the recolour that was being shown
and move the crosshair to the new location. This works great for
doing multiple fills in quick succession.

Drag

Dragging your finger will move the crosshair around without


applying the recolour. Use this to retarget ares to recolour.
Both methods let you use Recolor with the Colour popover open
which can be great for fine tuning your colour in situ.
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Transform
Section 1

Basic manipulation

Learn the basics for Procreates Transform tool with a


rundown of each UI element and how your layer
contents can be manipulated.
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Transforming a layer
While in transform mode you will notice 2 main
elements: the dashed line and the silver nodes.
Object bounds
Once you tap the Transform icon your layer will be bound by a
moving dashed line. This dashed line will encompass every pixel on
that particular layer.

Nodes

On each corner and in the middle of each face, you will see a node.
These are the control points that you use to transform your layer.
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Transform mode ON
Node Object bounds

Origin point
Blue Magnetics guide
Toggle Magnetics

Magnetics
Think of magnetics as intelligent guides to help you
keep your transforms aligned and ratios correct.
To turn on Magnetics, tap the icon of the magnet so it turns blue. To
turn it off, tap it again so it returns to silver.

How can it help me?


While Magnetics are on you will see blue guides pop up on the
screen while youre dragging a silver node around. This shows you
a particular alignment that might be helpful.
For example, when dragging a silver node on the right/left edge of
an object, Procreate will maintain perfect movement along only the
x axis.
Magnetics will help you out with rotation, x/y axis movement and
scale. It can even be turned off mid-transform to get the best of
both worlds.
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Magnetics readout
Rotate 45 clockwise
Rotate 45 anti-clockwise
Flip horizontally Flip vertically

Repositioning your work


Artists will be constantly tweaking their art to get the
perfect layout. With Procreates Transform tool, its
super quick and easy.
Moving
After activating transform just tap and drag one finger to move the
layer.

Rotating

Pinch and rotate your fingers to change the orientation of your


layer. Alternatively, use the quick rotate buttons to snap it to 45
increments.

Flip

Flip the subject horizontally or vertically from its centre point.


Pro tip:
Dont forget that Magnetics can be handy for moving layers precisely by
snapping to certain angles and axes.
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Uniform transform
Evenly scaling the size of a layer can be done two
ways.
With Magnetics

Drag any corner node to adjust to the new size. Your transform will
anchor from the opposite node to the one you are dragging.
Without Magnetics
Pinching inside an object will uniform scale the layer with the
anchor being in the middle.
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Non-uniform transform
Procreate allows you to stretch an object however you
see fit.
To stretch your layer and disregard its original ratio, drag any of
the silver nodes in any direction (while Magnetics is off). This will
pivot your transform from the opposite corner/side.
Grabbing a corner node will give the quickest result as it will
transform on both x and y axes, while grabbing a side node will
only stretch the layer along that axis.
For example, in this image you might wish to make one of
firefighters a little taller. To do so you would pull the top middle
node upwards.
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Fit to screen

The Fit tool


Quickly fit your imported image or layer to the canvas.
With Magnetics
Fit the layer contents to uniformly fit the canvas with maximum
coverage. This will result in the image overflowing the canvas
boundaries, resulting in cropped artwork once committed.

Without Magnetics

Fit the layer contents uniformly to the canvas boundaries. No part


of the image will be cropped.
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Reset
Undo Redo

Reverting mistakes
Transforming can get pretty hectic sometimes. Here
are a few features to save you time.

Reset
Tapping the reset icon, will disregard all changes you have made
while in Transform mode and revert the layer back to its original
state.

Undo and redo

If youre in the middle of a complex transform and you only want to


go back one step, simply tap the undo button! All of your steps are
saved separately while in Transform to make life easier.
Pro tip:
Once you leave transform mode Procreate will compact all of those
transform actions into one step, making them into one undo. This is great for
undoing and redoing to see if the change you made looks right or not.
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Section 2

Advanced manipulation

This section will explain the power of the distort and


shear tools.
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Distort
Procreates impressive distort feature makes threedimensional scenes a piece of cake.
Engage Distort by tapping and holding your finger over any corner
silver node. A notification will let you know that Distort has been
activated and you can begin to move the Node wherever you
please.
The artwork here is a great example of using distort to create a
perfect three dimensional scene. Paint your textures as if you were
looking at them from front on or top down (i.e. flat).
Once youre finished painting, distort it into place to get a perfect
perspective in a fraction of the time it would take to paint it
manually.
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Shear
Shearing is like tilting or tipping an object. It can be
handy for creating depth or slight angles.
In the image to the left, we might wish to shear the caf benches a
little more. To shear an object while in Transform mode, tap and
hold a middle Silver Node until the notification appears. To restrict
the Shears movement to a single axis, turn Magnetics on.
Pro tip:
Shear can be useful for setting up a base for perspective. Firstly, shear your
shape/texture, then pull a corner Node in with Distort to give it the depth of a
perspective view.
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Nudge
Nudge your object slightly in any direction by tapping
outside the bounding box.
Tap outside your object to move your object left, right, up or down
in tiny increments.
The nudge distance will be affected by zoom level, so the closer
you are to your painting, the smaller the nudge will be.
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Zoom/pan shortcut
While transforming it is possible to move your view
around without committing your changes.
Hold the Transform button and zoom/pinch to adjust your view. Let
go of the Transform button to go back to transforming your object.
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Quick Transform shortcut


While painting it is possible to transform your layer
quickly.
If you want to quickly move or scale your layer, hold the Transform
button down with one hand and move your layer with the other
hand. As soon as you let go of the Transform button, Procreate will
commit the transform and switch you right back to whatever tool

you were using before!


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Selections
Section 1

Making a basic selection

Use Procreates powerful freehand selection tool to


isolate elements of your artwork for further
refinements.
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Selections: Making a basic selection 170
Selections mode ON
Modifiers

Enabling Selection mode


As soon as you tap the Selections icon, Selection
mode becomes active and the icon glows blue.
You'll notice that when you touch the canvas you won't be painting
any more, you'll be outlining your selection.
Youll notice the sidebar has several disabled selection modifiers.
These become available as you start to draw your selection.
When you're finished using your selection, tap the Selection icon
and you'll notice it turn grey to indicate the selection is now off.
You can now paint on the canvas as normal.
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Starting a selection
Procreate's selection tool offers two ways to create
precise and fluid selections while still being able to
zoom, pan and rotate your canvas.
Freehand
Drag your finger around on the canvas just like you were drawing.

Dont be afraid to lift your finger off, you can continue by placing it
down again.

Polygon

Tap your finger on the canvas where you would like to place a
corner node. As you tap around, you will see the dashed lines
complete a straight line from your last point.
Pro tip:
You can combine the use of freehand and polygon style to create unique
shapes.
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Selection starting point

Tap finger for straight lines


Drag finger for freehand curves

Masked area
Painting area

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Selections: Making a basic selection 173

Closing a selection
There are several ways to close your selection to give
you various amounts of control, depending on what
your next step might be.
When you apply your selection you will see it turn into a mask,
indicated by moving diagonal lines.
To apply your selection do one of the following:
Tap the starting point
Draws a straight line from your last point to the blue node. Now
you can select Paint, or modify your selection further.
Tap the Paint icon
Apply the selection and choose brush you were using lastall in
one quick step.
Tap the Plus/Minus icon
Apply the selection and keep Selection mode active for further
modifications (see next section for more details).
Tap Transform tool
Isolate and transform the contents of the selection.
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About masks

If youre unfamiliar with masks and how they work,


heres a basic explanation to quickly get you on your
way:
Procreate masks work just the same way as you would mask your
house if you were painting the walls. You put masking tape over
the parts you dont want to get paint on and then paint the parts
that arent covered by the mask.
In Procreate, the masking tape is shown by the diagonal lines
across your painting. These are the safe areas that wont be
affected.
Selections mode ON
Paint ON

Painting with a mask


With an active mask you can stop worrying about
ruining the important parts of your artwork.
When you have made your selection and are ready to get back to
your artwork, tap the Paint, Smudge or Erase tools.
Youll now notice that both the Selections icon and the
Paint/Smudge/Erase icon is highlighted. This lets you know that
youre ready to paint inside your new mask.
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Section 2

Modifying a selection

Once you're familiar with the basics of Procreate's


Selection tool, check out this section to give you even
more control over your artwork.
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Painting area Masked area Newly added painting area

Add to your selection


You can add extra shapes to your selection by using
the Add icon on the side toolbar.
Each time you tap Add, the area inside the dashed line will be
added to the current selection. In the example above, you can see
the result of the Add Selection action indicated by the blue line (for

example purposes only).


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Painting area Masked area Newly subtracted masked area

Subtract from your selection


You can cut away shapes from your selection by using
the Subtract icon on the side toolbar.
Each time you tap Subtract, the area inside dashed line will
subtract from the current selection. If they are overlapping, it will
appear to cut a chunk out of your selection. In the example above,
you can see the result of the Subtract Selection action indicated by
the blue line (for example purposes only).
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Clear

Clear a selection
While in Selection mode, tap the X icon on the side
toolbar to clear your current selection.
There can be two levels to clearing a selection:
If you have a mask (diagonal lines on canvas) beneath a noncommitted selection (dashed outline), tapping Clear will remove
the non- committed selection first.
Tapping Clear again will clear the mask, leaving you with no
selection.
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Undo

Undo a mistake
You can also use the Undo (and redo) button to go
back many steps to fix up a selection if necessary.
When using the Selection tool in a polygon fashion, each undo will
go back one tap.
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Invert

Invert
At any time you can invert a selection by tapping the
invert icon on the side toolbar.
You will notice that the diagonal lines displaying your masked area

will swap from inside to outside or vice versa to indicate which area
is now protected.
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Reloading a mask
You can reload your last used selection with a tap and
hold on the Selection icon.
Reloading your last used selection will also activate Selection
mode. From here you can add or subtract from your selection if you
wish.
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Hold to reload mask
Notification

Tap field to select only painted pixels

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Selections: Modifying a selection 183

Select Layer Contents


Use any existing layers pixel data to make a
selection.
By using the Select Layer Contents feature from the Layer Details
menu, you will select any painted pixels from that layer. Procreate
then activates Selection mode, giving you the same options as any
other selection.
Using Select Layer Contents will reference transparency on the
current layer, which can be great for feathering effects.

Adjusting the selection mask UI

Tucked away in Actions > Prefs, you will find a setting


to adjust the Selection mask visibility.
Adjusting the slider will change the strength of the mask pattern so
you can get it just the way you like it. For the best results, adjust it
while the mask is active.
Undo

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Actions
Section 1

Importing images

Learn how to import artwork or images into Procreate.


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Actions: Importing images 186

Insert from Photos


Import an image from your Camera Roll straight to
your canvas.
The first time you use this option your iPad will ask for access to
your Photos library. Once you allow it youll see a feed from your
camera roll.
Once you select the image you can move and scale it however you
like.
Pro tip:
You can use an image to trace, or just as a reference. You can also try
saving assets you always use to Photos and reusing them to save you
drawing them all the time!
Access your camera roll

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Actions: Importing images 187

External source
Take a photo
Take a photo and drop it straight onto your canvas.

Import from iTunes

To access a file from your Procreate iTunes folder, youll need to


add them manually through the iTunes interface (see page 198 for
a screenshot)

Download from Dropbox

Procreate can pull an image from your Dropbox account to your

canvas. If you dont already have Dropbox set up, you will need to
follow a few simple steps to allow Procreate to access your folders.
If youre still having difficulties, head to the Dropbox website.

Paste from Clipboard

Paste an image from your iPads clipboard. This can be a layer from
any Procreate artwork or even another app! If this is option is
disabled, or not pasting the up-to-date content, the requested
clipboard data is not supported by Procreate.
Not always available

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Section 2

Canvas actions

Flip your canvas for proportion checking, copy merged


artwork and check canvas metadata.
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Flip canvas
Many artists love to reverse their artwork to check
their proportions. Its a great way to get a different
perspective on your art!
To flip your canvas select the Flip horizontally or Flip vertically
options. Your canvas will flip instantly.
Flip orientations

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Copy canvas to clipboard


A handy feature that will grab your whole canvas and
take a snapshot to the clipboard.
Copying your canvas to the clipboard will capture all layers just as
you see them. If a layer is turned off, it will not be captured.
Once the canvas is copied you can paste it into the current
artwork, another one in the gallery or even another app that
accepts images.
Copy whole canvas to clipboard

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Artwork metadata
View the dimensions, file size and video size of your
artwork.
Canvas dimensions
This can be handy for finding out the size of an imported artwork
after you made it, or when you import a picture as a new canvas.
All canvas dimensions are in pixels.
File size
The canvas file size will increase with larger dimensions and more
layers. This information can be helpful should you need to clear
space on your iPad.
Recorded video
This is an estimate of the video size of you creating your artwork in
Procreate. For any artwork done prior to version 1.9, there will be
no video data.
Details

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Actions: Canvas actions 192

Section 3

Sharing artwork

A brief explanation of the file formats Procreate


outputs and how it uses email, Twitter, Facebook,
Weibo and iTunes to share your artwork and its video.
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File formats
Procreate features several file formats with varying
features suiting different purposes.
PNG
PNG will flatten your artwork and retain full quality (we call this
lossless). While slightly larger in file size, PNG will also save any
transparency you have in your artwork.

JPEG

A lossy format that will flatten your artwork into a single layer.
JPEG format is great for quickly sharing an image as the file size is

low.

Procreate
The native format used for storing all artwork data inside the app.
If using the .procreate format, all layer information will be kept
intact.

Photoshop

A standard PSD that will export layers, layer names, opacity,


visibility and blend modes exactly as per your Procreate doc.
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Share Destinations
Depending on which filetype youve chosen, you will
see a combination of the following:
iTunes Dropbox
Photos
Email
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Actions: Sharing artwork 195

Facebook Twitter
Weibo

Email

Easily share your artwork using your iPads Mail app.


Supported filetypes
PNG, JPG, Procreate and PSD.
Select the desired format and Procreate will load your artwork into
an email, ready to send. If you select a PNG or JPG your image will
be displayed inline. A Procreate file will show an icon.
Pro tip
Why not collaborate with friends by sending
a .procreate file around to see what comes of it?

Sharing by email requires an active account on your iPads Mail app. For
maximum compatibility, Procreate will not limit your attachment size. If
your emails don't send, ask your IT consultant about your email size
limit.
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Actions: Sharing artwork 196

Twitter

Tweet your latest artwork to your Twitter followers.


Supported filetype
JPG
Sharing to Twitter will set up a tweet, ready to go to all of your
followers on Twitter. Once the image has been prepared you can
type your tweet, add your location and choose which account to
send it from if you have multiple accounts set up.
Twitter will be disabled if you have not set up an account on your
device. Go to your Settings App > Twitter to link your account to
your device.
Twitter has a limit of 1 image per tweet.
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Facebook
Easily share your artwork with all of your Facebook
friends.
Supported filetype
JPG
If you have linked your Facebook account (Settings app >
Facebook) just share to Facebook to prepare an image for upload.
You can even share multiple images at once!
Once the images have been prepared you can enter a message to
go with your images, choose the privacy settings or add a location.
To change the album Procreate places the images into, tap the
Album heading.
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Sina Weibo
Its just as easy to share your artwork on the popular
Asian Facebook alternative.
Supported filetype
JPG
If you have linked your Sina Weibo account (Settings app > Sina
Weibo) just share to Sina Weibo to prepare an image for upload.
Add a customised message if you wish and hit Post to publish it to
your followers.
To access the Sina Weibo Sharing option, you will need to set up a Weibo
account in your iPads Settings app.
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iTunes
Exporting to iTunes is great for speedy transfers and
backups to your Mac or PC.
Supported filetypes
PNG, JPG, Procreate and PSD.
After youve shared your artwork to iTunes, head over to your
computer.
Plug your device in using your cable and open iTunes. Once your
device is detected select it on the left pane.
With your device selected, choose the Apps heading along the
top and scroll down.
You should see a list of apps inside a box. Select Procreate and
drag the artwork out of iTunes or use the buttons to save the
artwork to your computer.
You can import a canvas back to Procreate by dropping it back into
this folder and using the Create > Import > iTunes feature.
Choose the Apps tab

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Select Procreate
View exported files

Dropbox

The super-handy cloud service Dropbox makes an


appearance to help you access data online.
Support filetypes
PNG, JPG, Procreate and PSD.
If you have the Dropbox app installed on your device, the first time
you choose this Procreate will switch to it and ask you to log in.
Once you have logged in, it will remember the link.
If you dont have the Dropbox app installed, a dialogue will pop up
prompting you to enter your account details. Again, once you have
logged in, it will remember the link.
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Photos
Saving to Photos is a great way to save work in

progress, finished art or frequently used items.


Supported filetypes
PNG and JPG.
Sharing to Photos will place your flattened artwork into your
Camera Roll.
Pro tip
If you keep using the same assets in your artwork, why not save them out to
Photos so you can keep importing them and saving time? This works great
for characters, objects and your own signature.
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Actions: Sharing artwork 202
Choose either JPG or PNG

Video

While you create your artwork Procreate is always


recording in glorious, 1080p high definition!*
Seeing how someone creates a masterpiece can be just as
interesting as the finished product. Its great for learning new
techniques, too!
Procreate can export your video to Photos, email, Dropbox or
iTunes (which can all be seen on the previous pages). The video will
be automatically sped up too, to keep it interesting.
By exporting to Photos you can use the built-in sharing features of
iOS, making it even easier to share with friends!
Pro tip:
Why not add some music to your video before you share it? There are some
great video editing apps for iPad that can help you edit, re-time and add
music to your video.
* On the condition that your canvas resolution is a minimum of 1080
pixels high.
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Section 4

Connecting devices

If youre using a smart stylus supported by Procreate


youll find information on how they work with
Procreate and how to sync them to the app.

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Choose your stylus


If you have no stylus selected, youll see a list of the
supported devices.
Selecting your stylus will enable the SDK (Software Development
Kit) that makes your stylus work with Procreate.
Procreate will scan for your device and if youve turned it on, once
found, the panel will update to reveval a host of options.
At any time you can turn off the SDK and return to finger painting
by tapping the name of your stylus.
Select stylus

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Stylus information
When you connect your smart stylus you will see a
new panel listing several options and readouts.
Customise your buttons
Choose a function to assign to your button(s) for quick and easy
access. Think about what features you use the most and see if they
are there!

Stylus readouts

The stylus can send Procreate a small amount of information. Once


your stylus is connected, this will update with the relevant
information.
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Actions: Connecting devices 206
Stylus behaviour

How Procreate works with a smart stylus


When you have a smart stylus connected Procreate
will dynamically alter the opacity and/or thickness of a
brush to simulate real life.
For instance, changing the Opacity Pressure slider to Max will
strongly affect the opacity strength as you apply pressure.
Likewise, with Size Pressure. Setting that to Max will strongly affect
how large the brush gets according to the pressure you apply.
A brush that has Glaze turned on will not have opacity settings

available as those are overruled by the glaze rendering technique.


Pro tip:
If you wish to have your stylus operate like a dumb stylus (i.e. turn off
pressure sensitivity) all you have to do is go to Actions > Devices > None.
Stylus behaviour

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Actions: Connecting devices 207

Section 5

Preferences

This is where you will find ways to customise the


interface to better suit your workflow. You can change
the toolbars from right to left, make them autohide,
and play with the delay of the Eyedropper.
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Actions: Preferences 208
Quick pinch fits the canvas inside the interface
Canvas remembers your manual canvas rotation
Show an outline of your brush while painting Locate the sidebar on the left or right
Use the square colour picker with HSB sliders
Interface hides at set duration Eyedropper activates at set duration Adjust how obvious
the selection mask is

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Actions: Preferences 209

Section 6

Finding help

A list of useful links that you might find handy down


the track. From the Handbook you are reading now to
links to the artists Community and Support Forums.
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Actions: Finding help 210

Whats new?
Revisit the new features from the last major version.
With each major version well release a little introduction to the
new features. If you forget what we added, or chose to skip it when
you first launched you can revisit it here.

Procreate Artists' Handbook


Follow this link

Actions: Finding help 211

Procreate Handbook
If you want to re-download or access this guide later.
Should you ever need to redownload this Handbook, tap the
Customer support button to go to the download link.
For those countries that we cannot offer the Handbook through
iTunes, we have offered a download link from our own site
(including a flattened PDF).
The only downside to these external links is they will not
automatically receive updates.
Follow this link

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Actions: Finding help 212

Community
Procreate has an amazing community that is growing
at an incredible rate. Jump in and say hi!
Whether you need help, want a tutorial or like to post your artwork,
the Procreate Forums Community boards are the place to go.

Gallery

Once you have an artwork youre proud of why not post it to the
Gallery for everyone to see? You can also check out what everyone
else is doing.
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Support
Communication is vital to us making Procreate a
better product and we love hearing from you.
Tapping Support will launch your web browser and take you to the
Support page. Here you can access the FAQ, artist tutorials, or visit
the Procreate forum boards, which is the best place to report bugs
or request features.

Search is your friend

Before submitting a new bug report or idea, check whether


someone has already reported it. It may even already be
answered, in which case you save everyone some time!

Thanks
Conversely, let us know if youre enjoying using Procreate. We have
a Thanks board where you can leave us a quick thanks and let us
know what youre loving about Procreate.
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Tutorials
You can never learn too much about something! The
Procreate community is home to a growing number of
tutorials and tipsfrom the Si team and pro artiststo
help you discover new techniques.
You will find the Tutorials Board in the Community section of the
Procreate Forums. Tapping the Artist Tutorials button on the
Support Page will take you straight here.
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Actions: Finding help 215

Reference
Section 1

Artwork credits

Artists all over the world are creating astonishing


artwork using Procreate. This section is a quick
reference to credit artists work which appears in this
handbook.
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Reference: Artwork credits 217

Artwork credits
The following Procreate art has been used in this User Guide. Many
thanks to the talented artists for their work:
Spanish Airport
by Nikolai Lockertsen http://www.lockertsen.net

Relaxing
by Nikolai Lockertsen http://www.lockertsen.net
Summoner Apprentice
by Patipat Asavasena (aka Asuka111 http://www.asuka111.net
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Reference: Artwork credits 218
Pro Suit
by Pablo Uchida http://pablocafe.seesaa.net
Mystic Forrest Elf
by Patipat Asavasena (aka Asuka111 http://www.asuka111.net
Cherub
by Patipat Asavasena (aka Asuka111 http://www.asuka111.net

Artwork credits (continued)


Stargazer
by Patipat Asavasena (aka Asuka111) http://asuka111.net
Sub Fire
by Nikolai Lockertsen http://www.lockertsen.net
New Drink
by Nikolai Lockertsen http://www.lockertsen.net
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Reference: Artwork credits 219
Linggo Ng Wika
by Juan Paolo Ferrer
Marketplace
by Nikolai Lockertsen http://www.lockertsen.net
Marshmallows & Monsters by Bill Robinson http://flimflammery.com

Artwork credits (continued)


Kasumi
by Pablo Uchida http://pablocafe.seesaa.net
Subway Chase
by Nikolai Lockertsen http://www.lockertsen.net
Outpost
by Felix Haas http://www.felixhaas.de
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Reference: Artwork credits 220
Memories Lamp
by Patipat Asavasena (aka Asuka111) http://asuka111.net
Wrong Turn
by Patipat Asavasena (aka Asuka111) http://asuka111.net
Rainbow Circuit
by Patipat Asavasena (aka Asuka111) http://asuka111.net

Artwork credits (continued)


Escaping Time
by Kyle Lambert http://www.kylelambert.co.uk
Diner
by Nikolai Lockertsen http://www.lockertsen.net
Coloured Hair by James Cuda
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Reference: Artwork credits 221
No further
by Nikolai Lockertsen http://www.lockertsen.net
Drabbit
by Ben Hickling http://benhickling.deviantart.com/gallery/
Bizango
by Shane Plante http://shaneplante.blogspot.com.au

Section 2

Light reading

A quick section shining some light on us, Savage


Interactive, our Community Forums and the obligatory
legal mumbo jumbo we need to disclose just in case.
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Reference: Light reading 222

About Us
Savage Interactive, or Si for short (as in Sci-Fi) is a
small, energetic studio based in Hobart, Australia.
We set our bar pretty high when it comes to our work and we
appreciate the same attention to detail in other peoples work.
Outside of software development, we indulge in the dark art of
video gaming.
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Reference: Light reading 223

Procreate Community
Even were learning cool tricks from Procreate artists,
so make sure you jump on the Procreate Forums!
Were really lucky to have a great community of talented and
passionate artists and even luckier that they dedicate their time to

helping others.
The Procreate Forums are all about sharing knowledge, ideas and
helping others take their artwork to the next level.
Perhaps you have some of the following you could share with
others:
Brushes
Reusable artwork resources Tips and tricks
Advice or critique
The forums arent just limited to talk about Procreate eithertalk
about whatever you like! Wed love to see you in there.
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Reference: Light reading 224
Blend mode description referenced from
http://photoblogstop.com/photoshop/photoshop-blend-modes-explained.
iPad is a registered trade mark of Apple Inc, registered in the U.S. and
other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple, Inc. Adobe and
Photoshop are registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems
Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Procreate is a
trademark of
Savage Interactive Pty Ltd. Im Ron Burgundy?
Procreate Artists' Handbook Reference: Light reading 225

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